Search Engine Optimization

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the content, authority and functioning of your website to achieve higher rankings in the natural or organic search engine results. Google, Yahoo and Bing use hundreds of factors to evaluate websites when determining which site on the internet will be most relevant and useful to the searcher who queries a particular keyword. Moving to the front of the pack requires consistent effort for a sustained period of time, but the benefits of top organic rankings can be dramatic.

The various inputs which Google uses to determine “relevancy” can be broken down into three main categories:

On Page Optimization

Domain Authority

Technical Performance

On Page Optimization

Google is constantly improving how it evaluates on site content to determine relevancy. Google wants to display the most useful and relevant results first when people search. Websites which include the keyword a user searches for in certain important content areas are much more likely to rank highly for those keywords. Years ago satisfying this requirement was as simple as writing the keywords which are important for your business on your webpage. Now, website content goes way beyond text. Google has upgraded their algorithm to be able to extract information about the images and videos on your site. Properly formatted image and video content can provide large benefits for keyword rankings.

Domain Authority

In many cases there are thousands of websites which display related content to any given keyword. Google developed “PageRank” to help determine which website is the most reliable source for information on a topic. Google has been continually refining the pagerank system to help it make better decisions when assigning authority to websites it crawls. Building domain authority can be accomplished through a number of strategies including social media marketing, directory listings, article marketing, forum participation, blog commenting, and more.

Technical Performance

This aspect of search engine optimization includes issues like load time, valid html, redirects, cross browser compatibility, sitemaps and much more. There are over 100 factors which Google automatically reviews when determining how to score a website in terms of technical performance. A simple one is load time. Google knows that users do not like to spend a lot of time waiting for a website to load, so it places websites which load faster higher in the search results. The team at Total Web Services has the technical expertise make sure your site meets or exceeds the standards for all of the important technical performance factors Google uses.

Ready to be #1 on Google?

Getting to the top of Google with SEO is not something which happens overnight. It takes time build your website authority up to the point where Google trusts you enough to send you a high volume of organic search traffic. If you’re feeling overwhelmed by the amount of technical knowledge which is required to effectively improve your site’s performance in Google’s organic search results, you aren’t alone. Many of our clients have been frustrated with poor results from other SEO companies. Take the first step. Request a free initial SEO site review and consultation from Total Web Services today and leave the details to us.